Data carriers having integrated circuits are used for example in the form of credit cards, bank cards, cash payment cards and the like in a wide variety of service sectors, for example in cashless payment transactions, or in the field of personal identification as an identity card, an electronic passport, etc. In a large proportion of these data carriers, the power supply and/or the data exchange with external devices are effected with contact via the external contact areas of an electronic module. Since the contact areas for connecting the data carriers to a reading/writing device are exposed in the case of these data carriers, there is the risk of soiling of the contact areas, as a result of which erroneous data transmission between the data carrier and the relevant reading/writing device of the terminal can occur on account of poor contact-making. In order to avoid the disadvantages mentioned above, contactless data carriers, that is to say data carriers for contactless data exchange, e.g. by means of inductive coupling, have been developed.
In particular on account of the constantly increasing demand for contactlessly readable documents for personal identification, such as the electronic passport, especially thin, robust data carriers that can be produced cost-effectively are required for contactless applications.
DE 102 00 569 A1 discloses a smart card comprising a multiplicity of card layers which lie one on top of another and are connected to one another by heat and pressure. An inner carrier layer has an antenna coil with a plurality of conductor tracks and coil pads arranged at the ends and a cutout for receiving a chip module. The coil pads are arranged in a contact-making region on both sides of a conductor track section formed by conductor tracks running alongside one another.
As a result of the direct contact-connection of the chip connections of the chip module to the coil pads of the antenna coil, although overall a relatively flat construction of the smart card is achieved, the production of such a smart card with its three-layered construction is complicated and cost-intensive.